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Monday, June 6, 2016

MEDIA MONDAY / DAN RATHER ON THIS DIRTY, NASTY ELECTION

Newsman Dan Rather

GUEST BLOG / By Dan Rather--"I felt a shudder down my spine
yesterday watching Donald Trump's fusilade against the press. This is not a
moment to be trifled with. It wasn't his first tirade and it won't be his last.

"I was
reminded of my college journalism professor, the late Hugh Cunningham, who
would exhort his young charges in a thundering voice to "never let them
scare you." It was his most important lesson. One of Edward R. Murrow's
favorite words was "steady." That also bears repeating today.

"This is a
dirty, nasty election. And it is only going to get worse. The reporters in the
trenches need no lecture from me. They are walking through daily minefields,
bracing themselves against winds of discontent whose effects no one can
predict.

"I know what
it is like to sit in those seats and feel the scorn and even wrath of
politicians of all political persuasions. Attacking the press for unfair
coverage has long been a bipartisan pursuit. Sometimes it works. I am happy to
say that more often it doesn't. But Trump's brand of vituperation is
particularly personal and vicious. It carries with it the drumbeats of
threatening violence. It cannot be left unanswered.

"This is not
about politics or policy. It's about protecting our most cherished principles.
The relationship between the press and the powerful they cover is by its very
definition confrontational. That is how the Founding Fathers envisioned it,
with noble clauses of protection enshrined in our Constitution.

"Good
journalism--the kind that matters--requires reporters who won't back up, back
down, back away or turn around when faced with efforts to intimidate them. It
also requires owners and other bosses with guts, who stand by and for their
reporters when the heat is on.

"I still
believe the pen is mightier than the sword. And in these conflicted and
troubled times, we should reward the bravery of the men and women not afraid to
ask the hard questions of everyone in power. Our nation's future depends on it."

Text source: Facebook post by the author.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. (born October 31, 1931) is an
American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is
now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather
Reports on the cable channel AXS TV. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News
for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March 9, 2005. He also contributed to
CBS's 60 Minutes. Rather became embroiled in controversy about a disputed news
report involving President George W. Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National
Guard and subsequently left CBS Evening News in 2005, and he left the network
altogether after 43 years in 2006.

Along with Peter Jennings at ABC News and Tom Brokaw at NBC News,
Rather was one of the "Big Three" news anchors in the U.S. during the
1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. The three all hosted their network's flagship
nightly news programs for over 20 years, and all three started and retired
within a year of each other.—Wikipedia.